Saturday, October 27, 2007

It's no secret that I hate cabbies. I think all cabbies are out to cheat people's money. But of course, I know that's a sweeping statement, and that there are still some generally nice cabbies out there, and I've had some nice ones before. But still, the nasty ones somehow are so prominent that they fucked upthe whole cabbie profession.

Since I started driving on the road, I had the reinforced notion that cabbies are the worst kind of drivers on the road. Yes, I don't like to be stuck behind or in front of another L-plate driver, or even a P-plate driver, nor worse, being stuck behind an L-plate MID driver, but I tell you, the worst of all is being stuck in front of a cabbie.

There were many times when I was driving at a safe speed, and the cabbie behind me had to *boooooohr* me and then overtake me. I mean if you want to overtake me then overtake me la, why still need to *boooooohr* me? I learn in the handbook that *boooooohr* is only to alert another driver to prevent an accident from happening. I'm going so safely that there isn't any accident waiting to be happened lor. But this wasn't the worst that happened to me...

The other day I was driving quite badly. Then I found myself behind a cyclist. I wanted to overtake the cyclist, but I wasn't confident in my overtaking skills, and while I hesitated, the oncoming traffic came and I could and didn't dare to overtake the cyclist. And so I decided to slow down and follow the cyclist. Then I stepped on the brake, then I decided to change gear, so I stepped on the clutch, then I stepped on the brake, and I didn't know what else I did, I went into panic mode.

Come on la, there are three pedals and I only have two feet, and I still have to ensure that I don't steer off course which is something I always so, and I need to change gear, and my left arm is very weak so I always have problems with gear shifting. And before I know what to do, the cabbie behind me *boooooohr* me.

Stepped on clutch again, release clutch, then dang. Car stalled. Great. Just great. The the cabbie behind *boooooohr* me again, and I fumbled my keys and tried to get the car going despite me jerking the car so much with my shaky hands and and legs. Then I continued following the cyclist and the cabbie behind be was snaking behind me waiting to overtake me but there was oncoming traffic. Serves him right.

I mean, even if you don't see my big big L-plate, you can see my car, can't you, stupid cabbie. I'm a school learner, I drive the generic school cars which have the school's big big logo plastered all over the car, you can at least see that can't you, stupid cabbie. My school's car is so cool that there's even a bumber sticker that reads, "I'm still learning, please be patient with me". Hell, yeah. The cabbie is just so dumb to realise that me stalling was all his fault, had he not *boooooohr* me I wouldn't have stalled lor. He's only making me go into panic mode and I totally cannot drive when I'm panicking.

And he still had the cheek to *boooooohr* a second time. My instructor was also quite pissed that he turned back and *stared* at the cabbie then the cabbie diam diam already. wah lau... If I didn't have an instructor beside me, I would definitely have had stopped the car and fail to restart the engine and just let the dumb dumb cabbie tio diao over there lor.

I told my dad this whole story, and he told me that he once saw this impatient taxi driver behind somebody, then that person was so pissed with the cabbie that the stopped his car, walked out and opened the bonnet and let the dumb dumb cabbie just tio diao over there. Serves him right.

I'm also damn tempted to try that out the next time I encountered a fucking fucked up impatient dumbass cabbie.

PS: Don't say I'm mean, I'm just treating them the same way they treat me.

PPS: The Chinese got a saying 欲速则不达, it means that the faster you want to hurry things up, the longer it would take you to reach your goal. And another saying 己所不欲，勿施于人, it means not to do on other what you don't want others to do on you. Remember that if you want to be a cabbie okie?

Set in the underworld society of Hong Kong, Brothers is not only about the relationship between two biological brothers but also about that of the people who see themselves as ‘brothers’ based on the old values of ‘righteousness and brotherhood’. Loyalties between the various characters were put to test and we see their reactions towards the types of sets up leading character Yiu (Michael Miu) puts them up.

With the actors having a median age of like 45, we can be assured of a totally gripping film in terms of acting. Heck, these guys have been acting even before I was born! And yes, they are good, very good. The varying levels and the changes in emotions of the characters were so well portrayed that one can be sucked into the whole mood of the film and feel for the younger brother (Eason Chan).

Also, with all the actors being old friends, there’s a very strong rapport among them. And that shows when watching this film. There’s the ease among the characters so smooth that it seems almost real. Even the banter between the characters sounded so natural and more like real friends rather than acting from a script.

Watch out for the exciting car chasing and shooting scenes. It reminded me of all the Andy Lau movies I watched as a kid. Even though Andy Lau is also in Brothers, he’s more of a relegated character, playing a police officer instead. But he, and his side kick (Lam Ka-Dung) also provides for some comic relief. Okay, perhaps the part when the whole theatre burst out into laughter is not supposed to be a funny part but a huge product placement, but it did lift up our spirits.

In all this is a very alpha-male kind of film, there were only like two females in the whole show. And considering that the males are all not very young, I think this would appeal more to the males than the females, unless you happen to be a female who grew up watching TVB in the 80s. Well, anyone who grew up in the 80s watching TVB serials should welcome this reunion of the greatest actors.

What is lacking in this film, however, is the lack of explanation given to the lesser character in terms of their background and their inter-relationships. Maybe it’s due to time constraints, but I feel that it is still possible to go deeper into the relationships and explore the theme of brotherhood further. Brotherhood and trust. How much trust do you have?

“Why?”

“Because I trust him. Because he is my brother.”

***

Someone, who went along with me, also did a write up on the movie. I think he did a better job than me since I focused more on the aesthetics of appealling to readers. Another clt+c version...

I view most Hong Kong triad flicks with cynicism. It's hard to blame me because of the huge wealth of films out there about triads which are basically clones of one another.

Brothers was a huge exception. Admittedly, I still went into the press screening with a tint of skepticism, because it really is pretty hard for any film to beat Infernal Affairs. This time however, I also felt a sense of excitement, given the stellar cast.

The plot of the film seems simple enough. You can find a synopsis of it here. I'm not going to bother with a write-up as they are a dime a dozen out there. Although on the surface the plot seems like another run of the mill story, what makes it stand out are the twists and ironies of the film. What appears as a struggle within a family 'business' turns out to be a tale of self-sacrifice and tragedy. Without giving anything away, the film is not named Brothers for nothing. The show may be about the triads, what is different is how the triads becomes the context instead of the focus, subverted by the true message of the film: blood is thicker than water.

The true selling point of the film is of course the hugely spectacular cast. Shining above the rest is Miu Kiu Wai, starring as Yiu, the heir apparent of Tin's (Wang Zhi Wen) family 'business'. Not only is the character of Yiu fleshed out in depth, complete with childhood 'trauma' and as a man under-siege from all sides, Miu is the driving force behind the cast, as is his character behind the story of the show. What I find outstanding from his performance was his portrayal of a man who needed to act as a cold, Machiavellian and cunning leader, while struggling with his own personal crises, his love for his brother and his guilt over the means he had to take. The face of resignation, changing into a mask of cool calculation, and into one of desperation was simply flawless. His performance comes close to that of Tony Leung in Infernal Affairs, whose classical scene witnessing the death of Anthony Wong's Superintendent Wong before his very eyes remains at the top of its class.

Andy Lau adds further glitz to a performance already made superb by Miu. Even as only a supporting role, his Chief Inspector Lau steals the show from time to time, along with Lam Ka Tung's Sun. Again, Andy's at his best as a flawed and mixed character, this time channelling more of Lee Rock than Lau Kin Ming from Infernal Affairs. It is a mixture of both: his character both driven, calculative, nearly ruthless and yet believing in his goals. Partnering with Lam Ka Tung further increases the credibility of his performance, with the two of them displaying an incredible chemistry as a good cop bad cop duo.

Eason Chan's Shun, Yiu's younger brother, seems somewhat of a weak link within an incredible cast. This is not to say that he doesn't perform well, but his deer in the headlights kind of performance just doesn't match up with the range the others exhibit. It didn't help that Shun's character doesn't get fleshed out as much as Yiu. It also doesn't make much sense that Shun appears a decade younger than Yiu as an adult, when they were just a few years apart as kids.

A tad disappointing was Felix Wong's Ghostie. He's in his element as the brooding, loyal brother, but there could have been so much more for his character, whose father was murdered quite indirectly by Yiu's father, Tin. I expected to see at least a self-struggle within Ghostie between the death of his father and his debt to Tin, but the show didn't even scratch the surface of that. Nonetheless, Wong did the best he could with a role which was somewhat underutilised.

Tong Chun Yip rounds up the cast as Kui, the antagonist to Miu's Yiu. Even though Kui is ultimately another stereotypical outsider who does whatever he needs to snatch the pie from Yiu, he absolutely knows how to play this role the way it was meant to be: mean, ruthless, and outright despicable, so much so that it felt good watching him get shot.

As for Chong Ching's Crystal Huang, the only significant female role in the movie, well, she's pretty much a non-entity. She seemed like a convenient character to have, providing opportunities for Yiu to show his private moments.

In the end, the show belongs largely to Miu, whose performance is worth the ticket price. The long-forged chemistry between Miu, Wong, Andy and Tong since their days on TV serials decades back makes the show smooth as silk. They played off one another flawlessly, lending strength for one another's performance. The show is driven by the actors, and rightly so, for the message of brotherhood seems to exist within the four actors as well as the movie itself. This film will likely go down as one of the classics of this decade.

***

Someone's writing seems to be much more proper than mine. Guess he'd make a better writer at some newspaper or print magazine. haha~

Sunday, October 21, 2007

I'm quite a big Survivor fan, and as long time friends of mine would realise, I have been blogging about quite a few of the past Survivors, so well, with the latest season of Survivor, and from what I'm seeing, it's a pretty good one, I've decided to blog about it early. haha~

I like the concept of Survivor in China, it's quite a change of the coconut treed places, a different kind of fishing concept, and the Art of War playing a little role in the survival skills of the survivors out there. Okay, I'll start the story rolling... 16 survivors going to China, going to a Buddhist temple for a ceremony, and you get first impressions of some of them.

There's the bitch. She gave obnoxious faces throughout the ceremony.There's the crazy Christian. She didn't even go through the whole ceremony.There's the bimbo. "But I'm not wearing a bra!"

Yup, these survivors are sent of to their camps without their bags. To think that they climbed a hell lot of stairs with their belongings just to realise that they dont need any of their belongings at all. No clothes, no bags, no shoes except those they had one, nothing at all. (But we know that's bullshit, cos of the pixelation crew. And later in the game some "I'm not wearing a bra" people got to wear proper bikinis.)

Introducing the Survivors...

AaronHe's the leader of the Feilong tribe. Not a bad guy, quite good looking, but nothing much else to not about him. But he became a victim of the reality show's horrible twists and turns. He was well positioned in his tribe, and wham, there came the swapping of tribe members and he had to go over to the other tribe which threw a challenge just to eliminate him. So much for leaders.Lesson Number 1: Do not be a leader.

AmandaHe game plan is probably to stay in an alliance and ride on coattails to the end of the game. If one wants to do that, one has to stay with a strong partner, and be loyal. I think she'll probably go far. ***spoilers*** I read in the spoiler boards that she'll end up in the top three. ***spoilers end here***Lesson Number 2: Stay UTR.

AshleyShe has damn big boobs man. Ya, that's my first impression of her, big boobs on a skinny frame. Her bio stats stated that she's a pro wrestler, but on the first day she fell ill, then on the challeges, a physical challenge, she couldn't do much except watch her tribe lose. I am quite sad that I didn't get to see much action from her, and yes, she got eliminated.Lesson Number 3: Do not fall sick.

ChickenHis bio stats read out "REDNECK!!!" and yes, he did turn out to be a redneck. And yes, he was the first to be eliminated and I'm not surprised.Lesson Number 4: People don't like old people, and rednecks.

CourtneyShe's damn skinny. You know how TV makes a person look 30% bigger, and all the normal looking people in TV are all damn skinny in real life. Courtney is damn skinny on TV, I really wonder how much skinnier she is in real life. Jeff calls her the smallest person ever to be on Survivor. *shakes head* She's totally useless in challenges, and her tribe is always thinking how not to play her. It's quite sad. But she's one feisty person, the bitch, I mentioned earlier. She makes great TV though, and I'm not hating her. haha~ I actually enjoy watching her bitch. ***spoilers*** She's spoiled to be one of the three people remaining, I heard. ***spoilers end here***Lesson Number 5: Always remember that there's an audience for reality TV programmes.

DaveHe's the leader of the Zhanhu tribe, and a failed leader. He's also a bit crazy crazy and went around ranting at everybody and acting like an obnoxious little kid when he's much older than the rest of the tribe. And he called himself a former model, when he's got this huge paunch. Ya, and he got booted out because everyone didn't like him. lol~Lesson Number 6: Don't be too loud, don't make enemies.

DeniseShe's another under the radar person. She does all that is needed for her to do, but doesn't really shine in anything. I also don't know what to say about her.Lesson Number 7: Don't be an invisible player.

ErikI didn't hear about him until the last episode, when he shared a romantic moment with another Survivor. Wonder if this Survivor romance will last even after Survivor. haha~ Oh, and he announced to the whole world, well, at least to all the Survivor audience in the whole world, that he is a virgin. lol~Lesson Number 8: Survivor romances are good.

FrostiFrosti is the youngest player ever at a grand young age of 20. I thought contestants need to be at least 21 to participate? Don't know... Anyway, Frosti was seen to be the "stronger" player of the losing tribe, so he must have some strength somewhere. On the whole he's quite a nice and matured guy, I quite like him.Lesson Number 9: Be matured, and be nice.

JaimeShe's the romantic interest of Erik! haha~ No la, she's really cute, but she's the bimbo I mentioned earlier. Well, guys do think with their cocks after all. Until now, Jaime is quite a sweet girl, I do like her, but she's can't control her giggles and I think that she'll have to pay for it. Yup, she and PG decided to throw a challenge, and she kept giggling throughout about it, didn't make any attempt to hide it. bimbo.Lesson Number 10: Don't be a bimbo.

JamesJames is this huge muscular guy who is a gravedigger. We once had a mortician, Darrah, some many seasons back, and now we have a gravedigger, really interesting. James singlehandedly wins challenges, and he does a lot of work in camp. He's really the strongest player out there. And he's really for the challenges one, because after he found out that Jaime and PG threw the challenge, he asked them to vote him out because he did not see their stand. Aaron on the other hand asked to stay because he thought that one day not voted out was another chance of getting the million bucks. Let's just say that people never get what they want.Lesson Number 11: You never get what you want.

Jean-RobertHe's a professional poker player, how the hell do you become a professional poker player??? He's got this very interesting gameplan, he goes all out to make people hate him in day 1 and from then he tries to improve a little bit by a little bit with each passing day. I do quite like him for his entertainment value. He's really fun to watch.Lesson Number 12: Do have a strategy.

LeslieChristian woman. It's not that I don't like Christians, but I really think that there's no need to be so pushy about it and there's also no reason to treat fellow Christians any better than the other people.Lesson Number 13: Religion is really not important at all.

PGIn the beginning I thought that she was a bit too strong headed and too showy and that would cause her detriment, but she's toned down a lot, and is pretty nice now. And she really thinks far ahead. It's always controversial to throw a challenge, but strategy wise, I think that what she did was a sound decision.Lesson Number 14: You need to think ahead always.

ShereaI don't like her. First she wear these high heels into the game and her bra's so loose that she's probably the most pixilated person in the show. Then she's fat and lazy and doesn't do much around camp, she says that she's conserving energy for the challenges, but well, it just doesn't sound helpful at all. And the disgusting thing is that she's an elementary school teacher. Really wonder what she teaches the kids.Lesson Number 15: Work hard, play hard.

ToddTodd is the strategy master in the game. He has all these kinds of plans and everything, like a shadow king, puppet master. I think he'll head down the road of Rob C whom he reminds me off. But with the change in final tribal council where we go into top 3 rather than top 2, he does sounds like he has a chance. erm... Nope, I don't like strategy masters that much.Lesson Number 16: Make sure your strategy is the best.

So that rounds up the whole of the introduction. My stand here is that I'm supporting the Fei Long tribe. I don't have a single favourite player as yet, but I do want Jaime, PG, Frosti, Courtney, Jean Robert and James to stay in the game.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

I'm not the kind who can get work done way before the deadline.I'm not the kind who can concentrate and get work done as quickly as possible.I'm not the kind who can do work. Period.

I hate myself.

Everytime when there's a deadline, I'd be all hung up over the idea of actually sitting down and get work done, and I'd end up doing last minute work and end up hating what I've done. I tried to do work earlier, but I can't get myself to concentrate, and deep down I know that the deadline is not so soon so I procrastinate, and then before I know it, I'm screwed.

It's a horrible viscious cycle. I would start out fine, having great ideas for my essay, plan my work, do research, do an outline, be all smug about everything, then poof! I can't get down to the actual writing, and then the P bug sets in and I'm screwed.

It doesn't help that I'm busy with my stuff, school, work, friends, and distractions. Let me see what are my latest distractions.

Handphone game.I'm hooked to Snakes. The Nokia one, the latest version one, well, at least to me is considered quite latest le. It was fun trying to crack each stage, then when I finally cracked all stages, there's the challenge in aiming for a higher high score. Then there's also the fun in exploring each stage for bonus stuff like getting letters to form NOKIA and/or SNAKES. Or just see the other alternative routes.

Facebook.Let's just face it. I can be sending gifts to everyone even though I haven't met them in ages, and it's goddamn addictive. Other than decorating my room, I decorated Someone's room for him. Then I decorated my aquarium. Then I added in a map that lists all the places I've been to. Then I send more gifts to people. Then there's the huge fun of looking at other people's friends and see which ones of those are also my friends and I add them. It's crap. And it's addictive. And the best of all, it's huge waste of time.

Others.I can't think of others. Perhaps blogging and reading other people's blogs, but I've cut down on my reading of blogs by a lot already, so it's not counted. And as you can see from the archives, ever since I started school there's a steady drop in the number of posts. And there's also my sausage blog, which sad to say has also been neglected. I just haven't got around to eating sausages and taking pictures and blogging about them when I don't even have the time to do work, after I've wasted all the time I have.

Someone was telling me a couple of days ago that he spent three hours in the comp lab at AS7 and completed his 2000 word essay, but without the footnotings and stuff la. But since then he has already completed the full paper, and his deadline is next Wednesday, compared with mine. This coming Friday and I'm still 986/5000. Then just now he was telling me that his other 2500 word essay, which I also have to do, the deadline being 29.10. and he was 1000 away from completing it. Crap, I haven't even thought about it yet. Then as I was lazing about in pain and agony, he a worked on my computer and after a bit he announced that he has finished with his essay.

Why can't I be like him? I so hate myself for being me, with the determination of a toufu, and the willpower of a vegetable.

I just can't seem to get myself from getting things done. And here you see me, rather than typing words for my essay, I'm rambling here and adding to my huge word count for the blog. I can't seem to understand why I can be so word heavy in my blog but so constipated in my essays. Remind me again how screwed I am.

hai...

I better go back to my frigging essay again. Don't think I can sleep tonight and tomorrow night le.

Monday, October 15, 2007

This is an update to My Lump which has been removed, and the corresponding My Wound which the stitches has been removed, and it is now healing to become My Scab.

I just had my stitches removed last Thursday. I went straight after school and ended up at the clinic waiting for an hour. But it is like that one la... There's the stupid taiji policy in place which rendered my long wait into one which amounted to nothing. After waiting for an hour, I went to see an ABC doctor who was damn rough when removing my plaster, and made me wail out in pain, then all he took was two seconds then he whisked me off to another room to get another Medical Officer to remove my stitches.

So I waited for an even longer time without a proper plaster and hence without being able to sit properly.

Then the MO came and helped me to remove the stitches. Because my appointment was supposed to be a week earlier, but because I couldn't make it, hence it was three weeks after my surgery instead of two, the MO said that my stitches were tight. And he had a harder time pulling them out. And they hurt like mad. And they bled. crap...

I was screaming. Then Someone advised me to try thinking about something I like. I hence thought about food, and then I felt the stitches poking me. I wailed out "the lobster's poking me!" which amused us all. And I still felt the pain. After that the MO stuck the plaster back on and I was to keep the wound dry for another couple of days.

So this is the scabwith all the plaster marks by the side after suffering from days and days of having been plastered left right centre.

After I removed the plaster, I still couldn't see my scab because of it's position on my body, so I had Someone describe to me what he saw. He called it a caterpillar. Thank you very much. After taking a couple of shots on my camera did I realise that this is a damn ugly caterpillar. And it's damn huge somemore.

I tried to look at it via a mirror, and realise that there's this whitish thingie on my scab. Think it's drying out quite a bit. But it still looks damn ugly.

You can see the size of the scab as compared to the size of my finger. Damn huge, damn fat, damn fugly.

And the skin around my scab is all dried and plastermarked with sticky sticky bits all around. It looks so ugly. I can't wait for my scab to drop then I'll moisturise my leg. I wonder if I'll get a big fat and ugly scar from that big fat and ugly scab anot... grr... Argh~ I don't want!!!

Friday, October 12, 2007

My parents just came back from Japan. Telling me and my sister about their trip, my dad was saying that there were a lot of things my mother was unadventurous to try, had me and my sister been there we'd have more fun eating and playing. WIth that he sort of said that perhaps next year we could go there as a family. Next year after my sister's A levels. By then I'd be working already, I should be able to earn my keep and spend quite a bit on myself and have less financial constraints when buying stuff.

Then my sister brought up that she wanted to go Shanghai. She was planning to work for a couple of months after A levels before uni and earn some money to go Shanghai. She has a friend there so she can stay over with her. Shanghai has always been a place I wanted to go. I no longer trust another other part of China, at least I know I don't dare to eat anything in China. But Shanghai being more modern, and with more discerning people around, I think it should be quite safe. Besides, I want to have the xiaolongbaos there. And also to see the colonial architecture.

But those are not my dream travel plans. I was telling Someone the other day about it, then I told my dad about it, now I'm telling everyone here.

I want to go on a month long road trip around Germany. Just me and one or two other friends, we can rent a car and drive around Germany, totally free and easy. Usually when people talk about road trips it seems like it's usually America or Australia because of their inefficient rail system and vast expanse of land. But Germany's also a really interesting place to go on a road trip. Because of one major important reason. Autobahns. No speed limits. A must try for all roadies.

Okay, I don't have a driving licence now, but it's always nice to dream. My dad says it's dangerous to drive in a no speed limits environment where any little mistake can cost lives. But how can I not try it out in the birthplace of the auto?! It's also one reason why a small group of friends might be good. Too big a group can get too rowdy, but I don't think I can do it alone as an inexperienced driver. erm... Assuming that I can get a licence somehow or another...

One month would be long enough to fit in as many places as I can. I can travel around the big cities, small towns and little villages. For the big cities, I can park the car at the outskirts and take a train in and stay there for a couple of days. For the little towns and small villages I can town hop and village sightsee. A lot of the beauty of a European town is the traditional and quaint little suburbs, very pretty, very delightful.

A road trip with a nice car also settles the headachey logistics problem of travelling which I hate. I was thinking of getting an SUV, a Mercedes-Benz one no less, then can just dump all the luggage into the car and go around. I'm a very lazy traveller, I don't like to lug heavy things around, and taking trains with heavy articles for a weak girl is quite jialat.

I was calculating the cost of one such trip. If I go alone it would probably set me back by $10k, maybe sharing costs with friends will reduce the amount quite significantly to $6-8k depending on how many people are in the trip too. Think the main costs for the trip is the air ticket and the petrol needed. Car rental shouldn't be too expensive since cars are selling real cheap in Germany, as compared to Singapore. Food and lodgings shouldn't be too bad. We can eat currywursts every day and/or Nordsee, and once in a while in a proper restaurant. We can sleep in the car or a little motel along the autobahn. I noticed that where there're motels and/or factory outlets, warehouses, or huge hypermakets in Germany, there'd always be a McDonald's nearby. So when I miss home, I can pop by a Mackies and get some junk food.

Guess I need to slog it out to be able to experience such a dream. grr... And I don't even have any proper savings at the moment.

Monday, October 08, 2007

A couple of us arranged for a Sunday German Brunch at Paulaner Brauhaus, and it so happened that the date we decided upon fell on the Oktoberfest celebrations. It was a pity I'm still nursing the wound and had to not take up the free flow beer option. It's the Oktoberfest Bier! grr... But we still had a great time anyway, eating, pigging, and camwhoring.

Xiangqing, Xinli, Cindy, Yingfong, Jane and me went.

The whole place was decorated to the Oktoberfest theme, with balloons, streamers and posters featuring the highlights of Oktoberfest all about the restaurant. The place was fully booked too, with families crowding around the food, and kids running about despite them having the own play area. There's a mix of angmos and locals alike. And the service was great, drinks promptly filled up, but I thought that the replenishing of beer was faster than that of the soft drinks, plates were also cleared, when we left the table but never while we were still at the table. This is the perfect kind of service that is supposed to be at buffets.

And the food was great.These were all the food I ate, not too many, but enough.

First plate was appetisers, cold cuts, sausage salad, and sashimi. I wanted to take bread, but remembered that bread would fill me up faster than the goodies. The cold cuts were great, it's been a long time since I indulged in cold cuts other than the usual fare. The sausage salad was a bit weird, too oniony for my liking, but there's this cold cheese sausage which is quite nice. The sashimi isn't what you get in Japanese restaurant, so don't expect too much from it.

My second plate was filled with meat. Pork schnitzel, sausages, pork knuckle, and dory fish with a few prawns on it. I know I'm not supposed to take seafood, but I couldn't resist that few prawnies. The pork schnitzel was a favourite with me, especially when dipped into the mustard. I had my daily intake of vegetables by eating that four stalks of asparagus, thank you very much. The sausages were marvellous, there were three kinds of them, all nicely grilled. And the pork knuckle too, I like. I don't like having to cut up the pork knuckle myself when I order it outside, because it always hurts my hands and fingers, but there was the chef there slicing up the pork knuckles for us. The fish was a bit normal, as in a nice kind of normal.

By the third plate I was a bit enough, so I got a smattering of various stuff. Seconds on the sashimi and schnitzels, some tomatoes and cheese I hadn't seen earlier, and from the meat section, duck and chicken. The tomatoes were good, they were marinated with some gooey stuff I don't know what they are, but it's good. And it's healthy eating! The cheese were okay only, I couldn't tell what kind of cheese it is, but they aren't my favourite anyway. I don't usually like duck, and this duck had the ducky taste which I didn't like. But the chicken was pretty nice, the only problem was me trying to subtly dig for the breast meat portions at the buffet table. That was a bit paiseh.

Because I'm not a desserts person, I had a simple dessert of chocolate cake and chocolate mousse. I would have eat more had the cake been of a smaller portion. The cake was great, I liked it a lot, just that there's too much of it that satiated me. The cream was forgettable. No, it's pretty bad. It was room temperature warm so it tasted weird. It might have ben nicer had it been chilled. Actually I had wanted to get some cream puffs on my fifth time over to the buffet spread, but there weren't plates, I procrastinated a bit then I forgot about it. bah~ But nevermind, it gives me an excuse to come back again another time. haha~

During the meal, we started taking a lot of pictures.

I went around taking pictures, and after that everyone started taking pictures. Luckily I brought my camera along with me. I had brought my camera primarily to take pictures of the sausages to put up in my sausage blog, but food ended up only consisting a very small percentage of pictures out of all that I took. There are more pictures with my head in them, but it isn't surprising I guess. I like going out and taking pictures with people who like to take pictures!

And especially since Paulaner's was beautifully decked out in all the Oktoberfest streamers and stuff, all the must we should take more pictures. And that was what we did, pictures of the more than decorated Maypole.

We took so many pictures with that trying to get a perfect angle that we stayed on even after all the customers left. We were the last to leave lor, even our other friends left earlier. The restaurant were totally empty other than the waitstaff and us, and there we were crouching on the floor to help each other take loads of pictures. Hope Paulaner don't blacklist us. haha~

Check out this streamers, it's quite cool~ But what I don't like is how come the womenfolk are serving the men? Okay, in traditional Bavaria, it's like that, and Oktoberfest traditionally is like that... grr...

The camwhore in me see props everywhere.

First there was the sunflower on the table. Granted, I didn't spot that as a prop first, it was Cindy. Then that thing became a staple in a lot of our pictures. haha~ Then there's also the mirror and the bier board along the stairwell to the toilet. Mirrors are good for taking pictures, and boards are good too. I can photoshop words onto the board and voila~

Our table was right beside this cabinet thingie and on it hung an Oktoberfest poster, and Xinli started by requesting to have her head with the poster, and before no long, all of us queued to be photographed with that poster. haha~

That's Jane's beer in the picture, only Jane drank. I was tempted, but had been warned not to. Xinli and Yingfong thought that drinking would diminish their eating powress. haha~ The Oktoberfest bier was more potent than usual beer. Jane was half gone after three mugs when she usually takes three mugs too.

Saturday, October 06, 2007

There comes to a point in the mid-semester when every fourth year student has to decide on Honours Thesis, ISM, or simply just do enough modules to earn credit. I am sadly, no exception, other than the fact that my CAP and my SJAP doesn't qualify me to do Honours Thesis. So, here I am, pondering over the costs and benefits of ISM, independent study module.

Because of various reasons at the beginning of this semester, I found out to my horror that I haven't enough EU modules to do. The only way to get around this problem is to do an ISM, that would mean that I exceed the minimum number of level 4000 modules I need to take. This is already on top of me exceeding the minimum number of level 3000 modules I need to take. But I need the modular credits to graduate.

During the beginning of the semester I started formulating topics that interest me, topics which are viable ISM topics. I even surfed the Linc to look at the numberof material I have in the library which I can use for my bibliography. It's really no point doing on a topic that there's no material in the library that I can use. In the end, I decided on Kaiserreich Deutschland as my topic. I was planning to use the British Prime Ministers seminar style module to conduct my ISM, ie examine the leaders and conclude their successes and failures. And so, I decided to approach Prof Murfett if he's interested in being my supervisor.

Sadly, he was full already. He did try and intro another 19th century historian to me, but I didn't know him. I don't think it's that easy to work with someone I've never worked with before, and I don't know anything about him. The other alternative then for me is to find another prof, maybe Dr Kelly, or something, or that I do my second choice topic and look for another prof.

Unable to decide between the choices, I went to the FASS page to check out next semester's time table. And lo and behold, there were two EU/PS modules which were previously not listed. Politics of Contemporary Europe, a level 2000 module, and EU and ASEAN and the World, a level 3000 module. I don't have to do the philo module of Hume and Kant anymore, and now, there are lower level modules for me to choose from. Lower level, I'd think as easier and less work type of modules. I don't have to pull my hair out over the level 4000 ISM.

The catch here is that Politics of Contemporary Europe is on Fridays, and if I take it, it would mean that I'll have classes from 9am-5pm straight without any breaks at all. A bit the shiong sia. But the good news is that I can have a two and a half day week including tutorials. Then again, even if I do ISM, I can fit in an effectively one day week, and another alternate week tutorial on another day. Quite an effective one and a half day week. Sounds crazy? I think so too...

Also, Politics of Contemporary Europe and EU and ASEAN and the World are both Dr Reuben Wong's classes. I'm quite surprised that he is able to take on so many classes. And both modules are very intrisically tied in with what I'm doing now in his European Foreign Policy level 4000 class. In a way, it's damn weird for me to do the higher level class before doing the lower level ones, when most people do the lower level ones before doing the higher level one. Anyway, if I can cope with this module now, I can cope with the other modules next semester, isn't that? But then, seeing Reuben Wong for so many times a week, erm... a bit sian leh... hehe~

Yup, so what should my decision be? If I decided to do ISM I need to confirm it quick and chope a prof. Prof Murfett is already full, I can't imagine what's the statuses of the other profs.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

The thing about my constitution is that there're these symptoms which occur whenever I'm falling sick. It happened first about a couple of days ago, at that time I was still healthy and well, at least I so thought I was. I tried not to think about it even though I was concerned. Then the next day it happened again. I still tried to shrug it off. I tried to think that it was due to my wound and other stuff.

Then the next night my throat went sore. Even after taking a couple of lozenges from my already sick sister I still didn't get well. I started guzzling down so much water that I was going to the toilet every two hours. And I still didn't get well.

The next day I lost my voice. I had to use my nose and mouth rather than my throat to talk because my throat was just so sore. I couldn't pronounce the b, c, f, g, h, p, q, r, s, v, w, x sounds, which means I effectively couldn't pronounce words audibly. Then my friends started imitating the way I talked. Thank you very much, I know it sounds ridiculous.

Yesterday I thought I was still okay until the later part of the day when I totally stoned. I couldn't move and was so cranky and I just wanted to go home go back to my bed. I was so bad that Someone had to send me home.

I lay on my bed and read a bit before I dozed off. I idn't even realise that Someone left. I was so conked out. But as always, if I sleep early, then I'll wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back to sleep. And that was what happened. I woke up at 12.30 and couldn't sleep again. I tried to make myself sleepy by reading my journal article for my essay, still couldn't sleep. Then I played Snakes on my handphone, still couldn't fall asleep. I read yet another journo and still cannot sleep. I played more Snakes and still cannot sleep. I finally fell asleep at 3.40am after reading Harry Potter.

Then today I was still quite conked. Even though I didn't doze off in class I was still a bit stoned.

Then after class I went over YIH UHWC to see doctor. The journey over to YIH by foot from Central Library also killed me. I was so tired that I couldn't walk properly.

As usual there was a long queue at the UHWC. I don't understand leh, now is peak period where everyone's falling sick and there are only two doctors seeing patients. Out of a possible six, there's only two. hai...

I hope I can get better soon. I still have a barbeque birthday party tomorrow and a buffet brunch this Sunday and my driving lessons on Monday and I still have work to do. And and and... I just hate it when my throat is so painful. I think having running nose and cough still not as bad as having a sore throat.

Monday, October 01, 2007

My parents have left for Tokyo this wee early morning. Me and my sister will be at home with only each other for company. How great. We have to do household chores! But I think we'll just let the house rot, like what I'd done to my hostels previously. haha~ Also, we've decided to keep all windows shut tightly so that no unidentified flying insects will enter our house and terrorise us.

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Overheard in the bus today. This VJ girl was relating to her friends about this RJ student at the MOE Teaching Award Tea Session. He asked, "What's the career prospects?"-_-"

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I noticed that a large number of the MOE Teaching Awardees are from VJ, TJ and AJ. It seems like RJ and HC students are getting other scholarships, probably with a better deal, and pays out more, and sends them overseas, and grants better career prospects. I don't know... And the AC students, we all know, they have enough money and sense to not take up such stuff. lol~

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Today I went for my driving lesson. I so totally cannot drive today. And I don't even know what's wrong with me. My last lesson was just a couple of days earlier on Friday, and I drove so well. I stalled only 2-3 times. I went onto the road, drove quite a far distance, we went all the way by Bedok Reservoir and up to Tampines. I drove so smoothly that I stepped on the accelerator and hit a maximum speed of 60kmh at one time, my average speed was about 40kmh, quite good for my first time on the road. And today, I couldn't even get the car moving. I stalled like once every half a minute. And the car jerked so much that I felt so bad.

The bad thing was that I had this instructor before, and the previous time with him was also quite bad. hai... Don't know if it's because of my wound or because of it's just not my day, or don't know what other obscure reason. Ya, at the end of the lesson I think I was so frustrated that it just made my driving worse and everything just snowballed. grr... Worse was that my poor instructor had to tahan all these. I felt so bad for him~

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I've got Someone to help me download Survivor and Heroes. Don't know if I should watch them weekly or wait till I've got more then watch them all at one go. Watching them all at one go is more indulgent and more captivating, but I also want to know what happened. What should I do? Oh, and don't spoil me, for this I want to know the stuff first hand.

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I had a super indulgent lunch just now. My dressing at the polyclinic was done so quickly in less than half an hour, that I had so much time to spare that I went for afternoon tea alone at Parkway. I had one basket of 6 xiaolongbaos and a whole pot of tea to myself. yummy~ Super indulgent. And I just had 10 xiaolongbaos last Tuesday. Well, I can't eat lots of stuff now so much indulge myself in the things that I can eat.

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Speaking of indulgence, Someone started reading all my Conan manga. He started with book 1 and now he can't stop. He was reading so many of them on Sunday that that night he dreamt of Conan, in comic strip form somemore. hahaha~

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Facebook.Goddamnit.Get me out of there can you?Oh, and before that, remember to add me first okay?You can find me listed as Joan Ang, or can use my yahoo email, I've listed only my yahoo email, but you should know what it is ba, else, you can ask me~

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Okay, I think this is random enough, one last picture.I'm thinking of changing my header. But the above picture is not a satisfactory one, there are still many friends of mine not pictured. So friends, ask me out just to have a picture taken with me!

die xxoos der joan

xxoos otherwise known as jal4eva, or more commonly to her friends Joan Ang. xxoos is always in small casings as it means kisses and hugs, or what she'd like it to mean, hugs and kisses and a tongue. die xxoos der joan just means the hugs and kisses of joan.